"The positive news is that over the last decades, the situation has improved substantially in terms of exposure to several air pollutants. But these pollutants, where we achieved the most significant reductions are not the ones causing most harm to human health and the environment" says Valentin Foltescu, who works on air quality assessment and data reporting at the EEA. We asked Valentin what the EEA does on air quality and what the latest data says.

Health and environmental costs of air pollution from industrial facilities in Europe. Countries such as Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, which have many large facilities, contribute the most to total damage costs. However, the ordering of countries changes significantly if damage costs are corrected to reflect the output of national economies. Emissions from a number of eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Estonia and Poland) then become more important.

Air pollution from Europe's largest industrial facilities cost society at least €59 billion, and possibly as much as €189 billion in 2012, according to an assessment published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Half of these damage costs were caused by just 1 % of the industrial plants.